LINZ.- “RADICAL ATOMS – and the alchemists of our time” is the 2016 Ars Electronica Festival theme, an in-depth look at artists, scientists, designers and engineers whose hybrid methodologies are breaking down the borders between art and science and thereby drawing trailblazing conclusions and opening up promising new prospects. Festivalgoers will have plenty of opportunities to meet & greet some of these modern-day alchemists September 8-12 at POSTCITY in Linz.

Sculpting Robots adjacent to a Futuristic Fashion Collection
“Alchemists of our Time” is a sprawling exhibition that features an inspiring mix of artistic takes on futuristic technologies. The projects on display provide fascinating insights into their creators’ approaches and methods. A high-profile eye-opener fronts this array: “Sculpture Factory” by Davide Quayola (IT) demonstrates how easily an industrial robot can morph into a journeyman sculptor. Right on site in POSTCITY, it will serially replicate meterhigh sculptures by Michelangelo. Close by is a presentation of the projects singled out for recognition with this year’s STARTS Prizes awarded by the European Commission: “Magnetic Motion” by Iris van Herpen, and “Artificial Skins and Bones,” several projects produced under the aegis of Berlin Weissensee Academy of Art, Fablab Berlin and Otto Bock, the world’s leading manufacturer of prostheses. Awaiting visitors a few steps further on are, among other things, projects by Yasuaki Kakehi (JP), Jussi Ängeslevä (FI), Joe Davis (US), Marjan Colletti (IT), Yoichi Ochiai (JP), Lucy McRae (AU), Masaki Fujihata (JP), Shiho Fukuhara (JP), Eric Dyer (US), Wolf Jeschonnek (DE), Ralf Baecker (DE), Thom Kubli (DE), Hiroo Iwata (JP), Shiho Fukuhara (JP, Ei Wada (JP), Helene Steiner (AT) Iris van Herpen (NL), Yoichi Ochiai (JP), Navid Navab (CA), Ai Hasegawa (JP), Nelo Akamatsu (JP), Sharp / Tomotaka Takahashi (JP), Anouk Wipprecht (NL), Joe Davis (US) und Grinderman (JP). Here, festivalgoers can also partake of the works created by artists who’ve just completed an Ars Electronica residency— for example, “Masses” and “Stones” by the artists collective Quadrature that recently spent time at the European Southern Observatory’s facilities in Chile and Germany. The exhibition includes 144 projects by more than 230 artists.

RADICAL ATOMS – and the alchemists of our time
… and what’s now emerging on the horizon in the wake of self-driving cars and the Internet of Things. The featured protagonists at the 2016 Ars Electronica Festival are modern-day alchemists. The spotlight’s on a new generation of artists, hackers, do-it-yourself 3-D printers, genetic engineers and artificial intelligence researchers who are on the verge of transforming our world. Ars Electronica is showcasing some of the trailblazing breakthroughs that are leading up to this in a one-of-a-kind mix of formats and settings. The prime location of this year’s festival lineup will once again be POST CITY, the former Austrian Postal Service logistics facility at Linz’s main train station. Additional venues are the Ars Electronica Center, the OK Center for Contemporary Art, CENTRAL cinema, Linz Art University, the LENTOS Art Museum and the new Anton Bruckner University.